After a day of tweaking we are all but ready for tomorrow's garden opening (although there are always things that can only be done on the day), and I am enjoying sitting down while I write this post. Things are generally in order and the garden is poised and waiting, so a chilled evening is more than justified.
In my quick Six on Saturday focussed ramble this morning I found myself observing contrasts and differences around the garden, so have made that a nominal theme for my contribution to Jim's meme at Garden Ruminations today. Let's start in the Coop, where I am pleased to say I have got six streptocarpus through the winter, one through its second winter. They are not all as attractive as S 'Rhiannon' above, as you can see from her sister 'Bethan' below:
Also in the Coop are a small number of sempervivum and aeoniums in the Coop, nothing special, but not unattractive; I say in the Coop, but in truth they recently went for a summer break outside, on a specially built platform on top of a nearby water butt, where they look subtly different, if only perking up after a winter rest. I had to move those in smaller pots into one bigger one to add stability, and still have space for another pot.
Staying in the Coop, the three larger eucomis have put on a reasonable amount of growth, but are still way behind other years, when there would have been flower spikes emerging by this time - not that any of them flowered last year. The six pots on the staging above also have foliage emerging too - just!
Unusually, I have the Golfer to thank for alerting me to a bud on the e-p-i-p-h-y-l-l-u-m (not being a plant geek, he sounded the name out to me) - had I seen it? No I had not! The small and almost ugly plant was a cutting I brought back from my Mum's last summer, a child of the child she had from her own mother whose child came from another relative (my grandmother died almost 50 years ago, so there is some age to my Mum's plant). Having been a house plant fanatic back in the 70s before I had a proper garden of my own, these days I am too involved with outdoor plants to take proper care of house plants, but I am aware that when my very elderly mother is no longer alive there are certain of her old- but-not-quite-as-elderly plants that I will feel responsible for, including the parent of the epiphyllum below.
I don't know if 'Burntwood Pink' is an actual variety, or if it was named such by the relative who donated my Grannie's cutting - curiously, Burtwood is a small town a little over 10 miles away from where we live now, which is many miles from where my Mum and Grannie have ever lived. Anyway, I suspect the Coop is not really warm enough for epiphyllums to be happy, and this one had been looking decidedly unhappy for some time, and I kept meaning to check out care instructions. Having barely watered it over the last year, I gave it a little drink a couple of weeks ago and Bingo! It now has a bud, albeit just one, and I am very excited about it!
Moving outside, there are huge differences between clematis throughout the garden, as I have mentioned before, with several still not making an appearance at all. Compare the C viticella 'Étôile Violette' on one side of the bus shelter, with the one on the other side - no comparison!
I recently contacted Thorncroft Clematis from whom I buy most of them these days for advice, as I didn't know if it was too early to consider replacing the no-shows. I suspected I was not alone, and this proved to be the case, with the likely cause not surprisingly being weather-related - either slugs and snails not having to hibernate in the mild winter, or the consistently wet soil damaging the roots, soil type being crucial. In the latter case, the plants may remain dormant for a year, building up their strength again, so it is probably in my interests to wait before I consider replacement. In the case of 'Étôile Violette', the second plant has clearly been nibbled, but that is the only one I am aware of with damage like this.
Finally, I am so pleased with one of my summer pots this year that I plan to replicate it in two others next year. I bought Dahlia 'Art Nouveau' a few years ago to feature in a pot on the paved area, but was sent orange 'Art Deco' instead. Admittedly, it was a pretty dahlia, but not the pink I wanted, and I received a refund. Nevertheless, I tolerated 'Art Deco' until this year, when I replaced it with the planned original, pairing it with the Argyranthemum 'Grandaisy Pink' and Lobelia 'Trailing Fountain Lilac' that I use extensively in other pots. The result is stunningly beautiful, with the photo below not doing it justice and washing out the pink of the daisies, which complement the shade of the dahlia perfectly, an unplanned success story.
No comments:
Post a Comment